One can only imagine the race-hysterics had Republicans walked out on a vote for any black nominee for anything. News would quickly jump from local to national media outlets with that “breaking news” bullhorn.
Such did happen in Florida.
Miami Herald: Controversy over surgeon general continues at confirmation hearing. Democrats walk out
State Senate Democrats stormed out before the confirmation vote of Dr. Joseph Ladapo because they claim he couldn’t “adequately answer questions on his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.” Not like any of the federal government officials have any better, but Dr. Ladepo was expected to have all the answers as he doesn’t appear to have been a Democrat-embraced Affirmative Action hire.
The Florida State Democrats in attendance who walked out were Lauren Book (Minority Leader), Janet Cruz, Shevrin D. “Shev” Jones, and Bobby Powell. If Lauren Book sounds familiar is because she’s a very recent controversy….
Florida state Sen. Lauren Book, who is proposing legislation to stop cyber trafficking after nude pictures of her were stolen and sold online, decried victim blaming in an exclusive interview with Fox News digital.
“Some of the other things that I’ve heard is … ‘Well, if you weren’t so young or good-looking, you wouldn’t have this problem.’ That is a terrible thing to say to somebody who’s having to endure cyber trafficking,” Book told Fox News. “My images were sold, bought for, traded, not with my consent, and it is happening every day to women, children across the country.”
— Fox News, 1/25/22
Again we reiterate the point there’d be no nude pictures if you don’t consent (for whatever reason) to have nude pictures taken in the first place. Maybe while being pissed off, walking out on Ladapo was an easy way to change the subject.
Some of the Democrats expressed frustration because of the length of Ladapo’s answers, Book repeatedly demanded a yes-or-no answer if COVID-19 vaccines were effective, why Director of the Florida Department of Health in Orange County Dr. Raul Pino was put on administrative leave after sending out an email to health department staff highlighting the department’s low vaccination rates and urging all employees to get vaccinated, and if he “regretted not wearing a mask” during a meeting with state Sen. Tina Polsky (D) after she asked him to wear one because she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy at the time.
What probably irked Florida Democrats most is Ladapo’s defiance of their president and nomination by Governor Ron DeSantis.
Ladapo criticized the Biden administration for its decision to stop sending federally owned doses of two monoclonal antibody treatments that laboratory studies have shown do not work against the omicron variant of the virus.
Ladapo has assumed control of a Department of Health that has been on high alert for nearly two consecutive years. Along with the coronavirus pandemic, the department has been charged with improving the state’s racial health disparities, combating a runaway epidemic of opioid overdose deaths and fighting the remnants of an outbreak of Hepatitis A.
DeSantis was asked about Ladapo’s confirmation during a campaign event Wednesday morning. “Dr. Ladapo is a superstar”.
— Miami Herald, 1/26/22
While Democrats proudly embrace Affirmative Action for those they deem disadvantaged, they call foul on anyone NOT Democrat who quickly rises through the ranks, especially a son of immigrants from Nigeria who graduated from Harvard Medical School and was a physician and researcher at UCLA.
Ladapo’s fast-track hire at the University of Florida has raised questions about political pressure from DeSantis megadonor and UF Board of Trustees Chairman Mori Hosseini to get Ladapo a job with an income that would supplement his salary with the Department of Health.
— Tallahassee Democrat, 1/25/22
Unlike the treatment of Democrat nominees, especially black Democrat nominees, there were no glowing tributes to his rising above adversity, no praise for his academic and professional achievements, no declarations of pride for his representation in the community, and certainly no softball questions that had no relevance to the position. It was tempered hostility until the final walkout gesture, done in visual anger.
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